Fundraising Flexibility

I am going to miss having my own class next year.  I have long forgotten the joy of a flexible schedule that allows time to throw certain subjects out the window if need be.  Case in point (is that the right phrase?)...a few weeks ago, Auchtermuchty Primary School, like many other schools across the world I imagine, decided to hold a fundraiser to aid the victims of the Haiti earthquake.  When I suggested the concept of Penny Wars (surely familiar to many teachers) everyone gladly jumped on the bandwagon and we were off and running.  When a student enters the school, they are put into one of four houses (for those who think I work at mini-Hogwarts, I sort of do!): ruby, emerald, sapphire, and amber.  So Penny Wars was a 4 way competition between the houses (instead of being a grade vs. grade competition).  I would ask that Falls Church consider the house system as I can see many positive implications - fundraisers, field days, Spirit Events, etc.  So fun!  But I digress...

Inspired by Penny Wars*, two of my girls, Emma and Molly, asked on a Monday if they could sell cupcakes that Friday as an additional fundraiser.  How sweet and wonderful!  Naturally, I agreed.  The next thing I know, all my kids wanted a piece of the action - "Can we sell smoothies?  How about a toy sale?  Let's make bookmarks and sell them!"  In the course of one Monday morning, all the plans I made for that week were thrown out the window.  The best part about this...it was entirely on my students. Everyone in the class ended up making a baked good.  We also sold gently-used books and toys as well as beautiful homemade bookmarks and word finds.  They are learning about money so they created the price list for all items (each baked good, against my suggestion, had its own price - hard for adding up totals but great for my mental maths lesson of the week) and ran the 'register' with no help from me.

For those who have talked to me about my class know that they drive me crazy beyond belief.  I have some really wonderful kids but there are enough bad eggs that I don't really enjoy teaching them on a daily basis.  This is the first year my class has left such a sour taste in my mouth.  With less than a week to pull this together, I was very nervous that we were not going to be terribly successful.  But my kids proved me wrong and were absolutely focused and passionate about making this work.  At the end of the day, we had no toys or food left over and raised over 130 pounds!  Additionally, I was able to tweak my targets for the week so they fit into this fundraiser.

First, each class is expected to complete an Enterprise project throughout the year where they raise money, create community awareness, or something of the like.  I was very stressed about coming up with something to do and now I don't have to. CHECK!  As I mentioned, this incorporated a lot of math and mental math (adding up totals, figuring out change, counting bags of money to deposit in the bank - a lot of how many piles of 10p coins make up 5 pounds).  CHECK!  As far as art went, we were able to discuss the components of a successful poster (lettering, colors, key words, etc.).  CHECK!  We also have listening and talking targets.  My students had to share ideas, be patient (not a strength) as we brainstormed and organized sale items, and present a "commercial" to each class encouraging them to buy our wares.  CHECK!  And if nothing else, this was a great exercise in showing compassion.

I had to give up a fair amount of class time (something that would be hard to do at MEH) to make posters, plan the sales, visit the other classes, etc. but it was so worthwhile!   It is this type of experience that students bring with them throughout their lives.  It was more than just a simple fundraiser - we turned into a mini-business.  One my kids took pride in running.  Could I have done this at MEH?  I'm really not sure.  What do you think?  This was hardly an exercise in conventional learning but, at the end of the day I was able to check off my targets and my kids had a truly authentic learning experience.  In a world of standardized testing, I am not convinced the masses would see the benefit of such an undertaking (especially with 8 and 9 year olds).  Is this where MEH is headed through arts integration?  All I know is that there is something to be said about finding that spark in your students and having the freedom to let them run with it.

I hope when we compete in the dance competition next month my students are equally inspired.  But that'll have to be another story.  

*Penny Wars - All copper coins (1 and 2ps) are positive face value points for your house so you want to put tons of those in your own buckets.  Silvers (5, 10, 20, and 50ps) are negative face value points so you should put those into other houses' buckets.  50p worth of coppers is cancelled out by one 50p coin.  At the end of 1 1/2 weeks, count up all the coins (my class is running the school bank so we had that pleasure) to determine the winner.  Amber won since they were the only team with positive points (and because the Amber teachers, namely Janice and Dorothee, encouraged little P1 kids to put their silvers into other buckets - I kid you not.  Janice made up for this by putting two categories of movie questions on that week's lunch quiz - I rocked it and she is somewhat forgiven!).  Including the 130 my class earned, the school raised about 700 pounds - a record breaker apparently.  Yay!